


Protector

by BabyCharmander



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Minor Violence, Wild Pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-21 10:17:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/899141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyCharmander/pseuds/BabyCharmander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Caterpie is separated from his family, and a lonely Cubone vows to protect him until they are found again. But one cannot be a protector without sacrifice... as they would both have to learn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Family

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya folks. I'm kinda new to this site, and I figured I would upload some of my works here, starting with this one that I wrote a few years ago. 
> 
> This story features wild Pokemon and no canon characters. Please enjoy.

"C'mon, Stinkyspit! I'm gonna get there first!"

" _Willowiiiiing_! That's not my name!"

"Don't matter, Silverspit, 'cuz I'm gonna get there first!"

"No you're not, Munch!"

The three Caterpies were clambering towards the Oran plant, which had two plump, blue berries hanging off of one branch. Willowing, the biggest of the trio (albeit still not quite a full-grown Caterpie), was in the lead, while Silverspit, the smallest, was behind the other two.

"I'm gonna get 'em!" Shutting his eyes, the small bug ran up to the tree as fast as he could. Eventually he managed to pass his weightier brother, Munch, and even Willowing before he began to climb the plant's short trunk. The young Caterpie opened his eyes again after a few moments, finding himself on the branch and right next to the two delicious berries. "I win!" he squeaked, crawling over to be the first to nibble at one of the fruits.

" _HEY_!" Willowing blurted out, rushing up to the branch and nearly bowling over his smaller brother. Before he could do anything else, though, Munch crawled onto the branch as well, and the three Bug Pokémon's combined weight turned out to be too much for the little branch to handle. The branch snapped, sending the three brothers tumbling down the short distance to the ground.

Instead of arguing with each other about breaking the branch, the three Caterpies immediately began swarming the two Oran berries, trying to gobble up as much of the fruit as they could.

"H-hey, I want some, too!" Silverspit whimpered, crawling around his two brothers in a circle as he looked for a spot to nibble at. Every time he tried to take a bite, one of the other two Caterpies would bat him away with their tail. "C'mon guys, I'm hungry…!"

"I'm hungrier!" Munch said between mouthfuls.

"You're _always_ hungry, Munch…" Willowing mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"That's 'cuz Momma said we gotta eat a lot if we wanna be Butterfree!" the fat Caterpie declared, standing up straight toward the end of his tail proudly (though he did sink down quite a bit). When he looked back down, though, he saw his smaller brother nibbling at the berry he'd been eating. " _HEY_!" He rocked back onto his feet and hit his brother with his tail.

Immediately Silverspit spewed a nasty-smelling plume from the antennae on his head. "YIKE!" he squeaked, stumbling back.

"Awww, Stinkyspit, you ruined it!" Willowing exclaimed, crawling back away from what was left of the Oran berries. "Now they smell all gross! You can have them!"

"S-sorry," the little Caterpie whimpered, ducking his head down. "You surprised me, though!"

"You're all jumpy," Munch grumbled. " _I_ don't spray stink every time _I'm_ surprised!"

"Well _I_ don't either!" Silverspit retorted, shooting a glare at his fatter brother.

"Yeah, only most-a th' time," Willowing grumbled, crawling back up the Oran plant and beginning to munch on the leaves. "You need t' grow up!"

"But I'm as old as you..." Silverspit's antennae drooped a little as he followed his brother, climbing up the short tree and nibbling on some of the leaves on another branch.

Munch, meanwhile, looked up at his brothers, glanced around, and crawled back over to the tarnished berries, quickly scarfing down what was left of them and the branch they'd been on. "S'not that bad..." he mumbled contentedly.

Back up in the tree, Silverspit watched Willowing as he ate. "How come you're bigger n' me?" he asked quietly.

"'Cuz I eat more," Willowing replied, making quick work of a large leaf.

"But Munch eats more n' both of us but he's not bigger n' you! ...Just fat."

"He eats junky stuff." The larger Caterpie scarfed down another leaf, looking down at the ground, where Munch was nibbling on what was left of the branch. "We're s'posed to eat berries an' leaves, not..." He paused, leaning down over the branch he was sitting on and staring at Munch, wide-eyed. " _Munch_! You ate those gross berries?"

"Huh?" Munch's head shot up. "I did not!"

" _Hahahhaa_! Yes you did!" Willowing nearly fell off the branch from laughing so hard. "You ate th' berries Stinkyspit stinked up!"

Silverspit narrowed his eyes, blushing a little as he turned back to eat the leaves on his branch. "Didn't mean to..."

"...Momma! Daddy!" Munch suddenly called, looking up into the sky.

His brothers did the same, and quickly spotted two Butterfree flying through the air. In their claws they each held one end of a large leaf, which appeared to be weighed down by something. When they descended, the Caterpie brothers squeaked in delight to find that the leaf held a large pile of Pecha, Oran, and Sitrus berries.

"Yaaaay!" Silverspit cheered, scrambling down the tree, only to be knocked away by Willowing. "Hey!"

"Imma get there first _this_ time," the larger Caterpie boasted, easily reaching the pile of berries. Munch arrived shortly after, and the two very quickly swarmed the pile.

"Gimme some! Lemme in!" Silverspit whined, crawling up to the pile. As before, he was easily knocked away by his brothers' tails. "It's not fair...!"

The Caterpie's father, seeing his son was having a hard time getting food, fluttered over to the pile. Immediately Willowing and Munch backed off, allowing their father to knock some of the berries out of the pile and over to Silverspit. "There you are," Daddy Butterfree said gently, flying back up into the air to keep watch as his children ate.

"Thanks, Daddy!" Silverspit cheered, eagerly diving into his own smaller pile of food and beginning to eat.

It wasn't long before all of the berries and the leaf they had been carried on disappeared. Neither a crumb nor a scrap was left behind by the ravenous Worm Pokémon.

"That was gooooooood!" Munch said before flopping over, his fat body covering his little feet. Seeing that, Silverspit and Willowing exchanged glances, wondering if their brother could stand anymore. "Thanks, Momma! Thanks Daddy!"

The other Caterpies snapped their heads up toward their parents. "Yeah, thanks!" they echoed.

"You're welcome," Momma Butterfree said, smiling as she fluttered down lower to the ground. "We got them just for you. We want you to be big, beautiful Butterfrees like us, after all."

"I'm gonna be big, big, big n' beautiful!" Munch exclaimed, wagging his tail.

"You got the 'big' part right," Willowing said with a snicker.

"Yup, I did!" Munch wagged his tail again, then paused. "... _Heeey_!"

"Now, Willowing, be nice to your brother," Daddy Butterfree called. He remained up in the air, constantly looking around.

"Momma, will I be a big, beautiful Butterfree too?" Silverspit asked, slowly crawling up to his mother.

"Of course..." Momma Butterfree flew a bit lower, so her feet nearly touched the ground, and came closer to her children. "Come here. Would you like me to tell you how to become big, beautiful Butterfrees?"

"Yes!" "Yes!" "But I can't come closer..." Willowing and Silverspit clambered up to their mother, while Munch tried in vain to drag himself forward.

"You all need to eat a lot of food, even if you're the least bit hungry. Eat lots of leaves—"

"And berries!" Silverspit exclaimed, sitting up on his tail. Willowing knocked him down.

"Yes, and berries," Momma Butterfree said with a gentle laugh. "Eat lots of leaves and berries, and remember when to hide."

"When we see or hear somethin' big that's not you or Daddy!" Willowing shouted, laying close to the ground and curling up, so his pink antennae and yellow tail and underbody were hidden. "So they don't eat us all up!"

"Yeah!" Silverspit mimicked his brother's movements.

"Very good." Momma Butterfree glanced up at her mate, then back at her children. "And if you keep hiding, and eating lots of berries and leaves…!"

"We turn into big, big, big, big, big, beautiful Butterfrees!" Munch blurted out. He tried to sit up, but just flopped back over onto his front. "Ow..."

"Oh, Munch, you've been eating too much!" Momma Butterfree flew over to the fat Caterpie, looking him over. "Don't eat if you're not hungry!"

"But I wanna be a big, big, big—"

"You're gonna be big, big, big!" Willowing taunted.

"That's enough, Willowing!" Momma Butterfree shouted, causing her son to duck down guiltily. She then turned back to Munch. "You need to stop eating so much, or you won't be able to run away if you need to." Her antennae drooped. "Then you won't be a Butterfree..."

Munch considered that for a moment, then whimpered.

"It's all right, we'll protect you... Just don't eat so much."

"But if we eat 'nuff, an' not too much..." Silverspit started, crawling forward.

"And we hide from big things, then we turn into Butterfrees!" Willowing grinned. "Right?"

Momma Butterfree smiled gently. "You'll become a Metapod first, but... yes. You will." She then looked up at her mate again, her face taking on a more serious expression. "How does it look?"

"I don't see that human or his Arcanine anymore," the male called back. "Let's keep to the trees, just to be safe, though."

"Right." The female looked to her children, and motioned to a nearby tree. "Go on, then. You heard your dad."

Willowing and Silverspit nodded before crawling up to the tree that their mother had indicated. They both exchanged a glance before charging up the trunk, forcing themselves to climb as quickly as possible. Finally Willowing reached the crook of a specific branch, where they would be hidden among the leaves, and took a proud stance. "Hah! I beat you again!"

"I never said we were racing..." Silverspit muttered, climbing up next to his larger brother. From that branch, they watched as their parents carried Munch up to their position and set him down.

"There we are," Momma Butterfree said as she fluttered over to the trunk, landing on it gently. She turned to look at her children. "All safe."

"Hopefully," her mate muttered as he attached himself to a spot on the trunk next to his mate. "They won't see us up here, at least."

Silverspit curled up, paying no mind to his parents' usual talk. "I'm tired... C'n you tell us a story, Daddy?"

"Yeah, I wanna hear one too!" Munch exclaimed, wagging his tail.

"All right." Daddy Butterfree looked down at his children for a moment, then closed his eyes. "There are many great Pokémon in the world... Arceus was the first, and he created many others."

"Like Mew and Dialga and Palkia!" Willowing pointed out, standing up on his tail proudly.

"But we already heard 'bout those!" Munch retorted, glaring at his brother.

"Yes, but have you heard of Jirachi?" Daddy Butterfree asked, opening his eyes to look at his children again.

"No!" Silverspit's eyes glistened. "I wanna hear!"

"Jirachi is a great Pokémon... I've heard that he looks like the lights in the night sky."

"But they're tiny..." Munch muttered, looking up at the darkening sky through the gaps in the leaves above him.

"But he doesn't live in the sky. He lives in the mountains, far away."

"Mountains…" Silverspit murmured.

"What makes Jirachi so great is that he has a very special power."

"I bet I know what it is," Willowing said with a smirk. "He's super-strong, isn't he?"

"That, I'm not sure..." The Butterfree looked up. "But what I'm sure of, is that he can grant any wish you desire."

"Any wish?" Silverspit asked, eyes widening a fraction. But he yawned, resting his head on the branch. He was getting tired...

"Yes, so long as you put the mark of your foot on one of the leaves on his head when he sleeps. Then when he awakens... your wish will be granted."

"That's so cool..." Silverspit whispered, his eyes half-lidded. Willowing and Munch were looking sleepy as well. And as they drifted off, they caught a bit of their parents' conversation.

"What would your wish be, if you ever found him?" their mother asked.

"My wish... would be for us to remain safe forever."


	2. The Fire

_Orans, Pechas, Tamatos! Kelpsy, Sitrus! Everything! Silverspit ate it all, all before his brothers! "I did it!" he taunted as they stared at him._

_And suddenly, he sprouted wings—big, beautiful wings, like his mother's! "Look, I'm a Butterfree now!" he cheered, flapping his wings and flying up into the air. He passed the treetops, and he passed some flying Pokémon, who didn't dare bother the mighty Silverspit. He looped through the air, feeling light as a leaf._

_As he flew, he soon found himself in the night sky, and he was looking around at all the little lights. One of them had what looked like leaves stuck to it, but they were blue, for some reason. And somehow he knew... this was Jirachi! Laughing, he flew closer to the legendary Pokémon, reaching out with his foot._

_But the closer he flew, stranger he felt... At first he just felt warm, but then he felt uncomfortably so. It was getting so terribly hot, that he began to spin around, unable to get any closer to Jirachi. He tossed and turned, whimpering. "It's so hot...! Why's it so hot...?"_

* * *

" _WAKE UP_!"

And Silverspit did, bolting upright. He didn't take time to think about the fact that he didn't have wings and he wasn't in the sky anymore, because he found himself surrounded by an unwelcome orange glow. "Wh-what's...?"

"Wake up, everyone!" his mother cried, fluttering around him and Willowing frantically.

"What's going on?" Silverspit whimpered shrilly, tears stinging at his eyes. He'd never seen his mom so scared...!

"Momma!" Willowing was awake, and tears were dripping down his face as he looked down below. "A fire's eatin' the tree!"

Silverspit looked down as well, and gasped when he saw the flames. He'd never seen a fire before, but he remembered his father telling him about it... But why was it eating their tree?

He started when his father darted by and snatched up Willowing, flying him away from the tree. He was about to ask where they were going and where Munch was, when his mother picked him up as well, following her mate.

"The flames will kill you if you get too close!" she shouted over the roar of the fire. "We'll fly you to safety!"

"Momma!" Silverspit sobbed. "R'we gonna be okay...?"

"Yes, d—"

_CRACK!_

Something fell from up above, smashing into the Butterfree's back and causing her to drop her son.

" _MOMMA_! HELP ME!" the Caterpie screamed as he plummeted down to the ground below. His soft body was not hurt too badly from the fall, but flames surrounded him. "Momma...?" Looking around, he couldn't see his mother anywhere, but he could see a gap in the flames. Immediately remembering what his mother had said, he rushed through the gap, crawling away as quickly as possible.

Once he was out of the ring of fire, he found only more flames, and rushed to avoid them. "Momma, Daddy! Where'd you go...?" he cried as he scurried away from the flames. "Willowing? Munch? Answer me...!"

But nothing answered his call, save for the roar of the fire.

The little Caterpie crawled on, trying to find a way out of the labyrinth of flames. It felt like ages before he finally made it out, but he didn't stop, even when he was out in the cooler air—he was out in the open, where something could get him. He remembered his mother's oft-repeated advice, and he crawled under a nearby bush, curling up so that nothing showed other than his green-and-yellow back. "Momma, Daddy!" he whimpered, shivering. "Where'd you go...?"

But the experience left him exhausted, and soon he was asleep once more.

* * *

Sunlight poked through the tiny gaps between the leaves of the bush, eventually reaching the body of the little Caterpie that slept underneath the branches. Though his face was mostly hidden, he could sense that it was now daytime, and slowly uncurled.

"That was a scary dream…" he mumbled, blinking a few times. But he started a little when he saw that he did not recognize his surroundings. Why was he under a bush? And where was everyone else…? "Momma? Daddy? Willowing?" Cautiously he crawled out from under the plant to see if he could spot his family anywhere, and gasped.

For quite some distance ahead, the plants were black and dead. The ground was covered in strange gray dirt that extended up to a line of stones and piles of regular dirt, as well as spots of wet dirt. An unfamiliar and unpleasant smell reached Silverspit's antennae, and he recoiled.

"Th-this isn't… Wh-where am I?" he whispered. Crouching low to the ground, he crawled toward the strange sight to investigate further. "Momma? A-are you there…?"

The sound of scratching soon reached him, and he turned in that direction to find the source of the noise. As he drew closer, he could also hear a strange crackling noise, but it was getting quieter. He soon found that noise to be a fire that was very quickly dying from a Taillow's kicking dust over it. Immediately the Caterpie curled up, trying to keep as still as possible.

_What do I do?_ he thought to himself. _Momma said to stay away from things like that… But where_ is _Momma? I wanna find her…_ Swallowing, he uncurled himself, and looked up at the Taillow. "Um… E-excuse me… b-but… d-d-do you know where my m-momma is?"

The Taillow, having just finished putting the fire out, jerked its head up. "I don't know about her," it chirped, "but now I know where my breakfast is!" And with that, it leaped at the Caterpie, opening its short beak wide.

Silverspit shrieked, ducking down and spraying a stink from his antennae. The stink plume ran straight into the Taillow, who squawked and gagged, dropping out of the air and quickly hopping away from its would-be prey.

When the predator had gone, the Caterpie slumped down, eyes wide in shock. "He... he was g-gonna eat me..." He knew he shouldn't have been so surprised, but he'd never been attacked before. "He t-tried to eat..."

He paused.

_Eat..._

Suddenly he sat upright. _The fire! The fire was eating the tree! And Momma was flying me away, and..._ His heart began to sink. _Momma... she dropped me... and..._ He stared at the charred, black mass that lay in front of him. _That was the tree we slept in... But Momma and Daddy flew away... and... and they left me..._

Whimpering, he darted toward the gray dirt, only to recoil from the horrible smell. _Is this what fire smells like when it dies...?_ Still, he had to try to find his mother and family! Trying to ignore the smell all around him, he pushed himself toward the fallen tree. But as soon as he crawled over the rocks and touched the gray dirt, he jumped back in surprise.

_It's hot... like the fire..._ He sat on one of the rocks, shivering _. I... I hate this fire! It ate everything, and it still hurt me when it's dead! He turned away from the remains of the fire. Momma and Daddy... they're not gonna be here... The dead fire'd hurt them. But why'd they have to leave me behind...?_

Maybe... had they made a mistake? But his parents couldn't make mistakes, could they? But then, why would they leave him behind?

Suddenly his mother's words echoed in his head again. _The flames will kill you if you get too close..._

Silverspit curled up, eyes wide at that thought. _No... no, that can't happen! It can't!_ He uncurled again, looking up into the sky and shouting, " _MOMMA_! _DADDY_! _WHERE ARE YOU_?"

Receiving no response from the blue sky above, the little Bug-type drooped, repeating in a much quieter voice, "Where are you...?"

Slowly he turned away from the ruins, and began to crawl off of the rocks and back into the forest, tears dripping down his face.

His parents were not here.

* * *

Silverspit noiselessly ate the leaves from the bush he'd been sleeping under earlier. He was a Caterpie—he was hungry, and eating was the only thing he could think of to do. Eating and staying away from predators...

_Maybe if I eat enough... I'll become a Butterfree... and then I can fly away and find Momma and Daddy. I gotta eat enough... but not too much..._ He backed away from one of the branches, curling up by the roots. _And I gotta stay safe... And then I'll be a Butterfree. And... and then I'll find Momma._

He stayed by the roots, staring up at the sky when it showed itself in the gaps between the leaves. Uncertain what else to do, he remained there, watching the sky for any signs of his family. But as he did so, he couldn't help but notice strange vibrations in the ground beneath him. Eventually he couldn't help gazing curiously down at the dirt beneath him, wondering what was causing the shaking.

To his shock, something burst through the ground, spinning rapidly and sending dirt flying everywhere. He curled up to protect himself from the flying clods, and listened as the sound of spinning stopped. The sound of something dragging itself across the ground followed, but soon that quieted as well, giving way to silence.

Cautiously Silverspit looked up, and _screamed._

A wide mouth lined with long, pointed fangs was open right in front of him.

Silverspit darted out of the way just as the Dunsparce snapped her jaws at the spot where he'd been. The snake turned her head, hissing. "Hmmm, I missed..." she said, gazing at the Caterpie, who was rapidly backing away.

The Dunsparce's eyes, which were normally narrowed to slits, slowly opened, revealing menacing slit pupils. She glared at Silverspit, her eyes glowing.

Immediately Silverspit felt his body freeze up. He was terrified, but he couldn't move... He'd never seen something so scary before...!

The Dunsparce began to slither up to him, opening her mouth wide once more.

Somehow, the Caterpie managed to spew a nasty-smelling plume at this Pokémon as well, causing her to recoil. He then found himself able to move once more, and, not wanting to see that hideous mouth open again, sprayed a silvery stream of String Shot at the predator, sealing her mouth shut.

Not staying to watch the Dunsparce lash around in rage, Silverspit spun around, crawling as rapidly as possible out from under the bush. "MOMMA!" he screamed. " _HELP ME_! _PLEAAAASE_!" He crawled as fast as his tiny feet would carry him, and looked for some other place he could hide. He didn't hear that Dunsparce slithering after him, at least...

" _Mommaaaa_!" he cried again, throwing his head back to look up into the sky. But still, no sign of his parent... Giving a whimper, he looked around for some sort of cover. He could try climbing up a tree, maybe?

Nodding, the bug darted over to a tree, only to shriek when the Dunsparce's drill-tail exploded from the ground just in front of it. The snake leaped out soon after, and Silverspit found himself running away once more. "L-leave me alone...!" he whimpered.

"Ah, but you're prey!" the Dunsparce hissed as she slithered. "You eat the grass, and I eat you. That's life, my friend!" And with a few flaps of her wings, she lifted herself into the air and dove at him, mouth open wide.

"NO!" Silverspit screamed, once again releasing a smelly spray at the snake. This time, the plume went straight into her mouth, and she began to cough and gag. Seeing his chance, the Caterpie kept running, but he was getting tired...

"I-I can't get eaten!" he whimpered. "I have to stay safe..." Looking around as he ran, he spotted something that had escaped his notice before—a hole in the ground, where a hill sloped upward... The entrance was covered slightly with plants, but he could still see it. It looked like it would be dark, and he hated darkness, but he needed _some_ kind of cover! He darted into the hole, stopping once the light no longer touched him. Here he curled up, panting heavily.

Once the adrenaline stopped pumping through his veins, he found that his feet hurt a lot from running so much. He'd never had to run this much before! His mom and dad would always be there to protect him whenever he ran into trouble...

The little cave was dark, as he had expected, and it was scary, but there were no immediate threats, and he was so tired… But just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he saw something move into the cave, and screamed to see a pair of yellow eyes glaring at him, paralyzing him.

"I have you now, you grub!" the Dunsparce shouted in triumph, opening her wide mouth.

Silverspit, now unable to move, gave a shrill whimper and closed his eyes, too scared to see what would happen next.

_CLUNK!_

"What're you doing in here? Get out, you dumb Dunsparce!"

"But it's my pr—"

_CLUNK!_

"...Oooooooooh..."

Silverspit opened his eyes to see the Dunsparce slowly dragging herself out of the cave. She crawled past something else that stood somewhat taller, but the Caterpie had never seen anything like it before.

The thing stomped over to his side, glaring down at him. He could tell in the dim light that it stood on two legs and had a rather enormous head... But what was it?

"You get out, too!" the thing shouted, raising something she held in her paw.

"B-but I c-can't move...!" Silverspit whimpered. Tears would have been streaming down his face now, if he had any tears left. "Th-that Dunsparce... t-tried to eat me...!"

"I don't care. Get out!" And, without warning, she struck him on the side.

Pain exploded in Silverspit's side—a pain harsher than he'd known before, and he began to sob uncontrollably. But still, he couldn't move.

"That's what you get for going where you don't belong." She shouldered her weapon. "Now get out!"

But the Caterpie continued to cry. "I-I c-can't m-move...! A-and it hurts...!"

The thing stared at him for a moment, and seemed to soften a bit. "Did the Dunsparce glare at you?"

"...Yes..."

"Hmph." With that, the thing stomped deeper into the cave, and came back shortly, carrying a berry. She set it down in front of him. "Eat this."

Silverspit, still crying, looked up at the berry, which he immediately recognized as a Cheri berry by its spicy scent. He didn't like those, though. He liked sweet things! And besides... "I-I can't m—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the Pokémon grabbed the back of his head, picked up the berry, and shoved it into his mouth. "Eat it."

The Caterpie cringed as the berry's spicy flavor filled his mouth, but he was soon able to swallow it. Much to his amazement, he felt his body loosen up, and he was able to move again. "Th-thanks," he said quietly, uncurling.

"Now get out," the Pokémon said, stepping back.

Silverspit nodded and began to crawl out of the cave, but after the first few steps, he fell over, crying again. "I-it hurts...!"

The Pokémon groaned. "I didn't hit you that hard."

"B-but it d-does...!"

"So go whine to your mommy about it!"

"B-but I don't know where she is!"

The Pokémon stopped, staring at him for a while. "...Were you by the fire?" she asked.

Silverspit didn't understand why she was asking about that, but he nodded anyway. "It ate my tree…"

"Hm." She turned away. "You can stay here till you're better... if you stop whining."

"Th-thanks...!" the Caterpie said, smiling a little. "Um... M-my name's Silverspit."

"I don't care about your name," she replied. "And don't stay that close to the entrance. Something'll smell you." With that, she picked him up and took him toward the back of the cave, and set him down there.

Cringing, Silverspit tried his best to get comfortable on the dirt floor and to not cry anymore, despite the pain in his side. His olfactory sense detected a variety of berries nearby, and, since he was a Caterpie, his appetite immediately came back. "Those s-smell good..."

"You can't have them!" the Pokémon snapped. "These berries are mine! I found them! I just gave you the Cheri berry because I thought you'd leave!"

Silverspit gave a slight whimper. "Why're you so mad...?"

"Because I don't want any Dunsparce or Caterpies or anything here! I wanna be alone." She sat down with her back toward him.

"B-but didn' you say I could stay?"

"Only until you feel better. Then you can leave!"

Silverspit went quiet at that, not wanting to risk making this strange Pokémon any angrier than she already was. He was still tired from running around before, and curled up, deciding to try to get some sleep. He closed his eyes, trying to forget about the fire, the Taillow, the Dunsparce, the pain in his side, and the fact that he was alone.


	3. The Goal

"Get up."

Silverspit did not move; he was still too tired and his side felt sore.

" _Get up_!"

Something jabbed him in the side, and he yelped, raising his head. "B-but I'm tired..."

"I don't care. Get up and leave! You've been here long enough!"

The little Caterpie blinked wearily. He wasn't used to sleeping for such a short amount of time—normally he would spend about half the day eating and half the day sleeping, but yesterday had left him especially tired. "C-can I please sleep a lil' more?"

"No! I don't want you in my cave! You can leave now, so go!" The thing growled threateningly, and Silverspit heard her slap whatever weapon she carried into her paw.

"...'Kay," he whimpered, slowly making his way toward the entrance of the cave again. But he was so hungry... He looked back toward where he smelled all the berries.

"You can't have any! I already told you!"

He whimpered again, but turned away, ignoring the hunger pains in his stomach. He'd never felt them this bad before... Usually his mom and dad would bring him enough berries so that he wouldn't have to go to sleep hungry, but... they still weren't here. Heaving a sigh, he crawled toward the entrance to the cave.

Just before he left, though, he remembered something his mother told him. "...Thank you," he said quietly, looking over his shoulder for a moment. He then took a few steps outside.

"Wha'd you say?"

Silverspit paused. "I-I said 'thank you...' You're s—"

"Wha'd you say that for?" she shouted. She was still angry, but the Caterpie picked up a hint of astonishment in her words. "I didn't do anything for you."

"Y-you saved me from the Dunsparce," he said, turning around. He couldn't see her that deep into the cave, though. "A-and you gave me the berry... an' let me sleep in the cave."

"I didn't wanna save you from that stupid Dunsparce! I just didn't want her in my cave! An' I told you, I gave you the berry 'cuz I thought it would make you leave me alone!"

"You still let me sleep in your cave..."

She paused again. "Well, why'd you have to say that?"

"'Cuz... 'cuz Momma told me you're s'posed to say 'thank you' when someone's nice." He gave a nod. "That's why I said it."

"...Well I _wasn't_ nice!" she snarled. "I didn't wanna be nice! I _don't_ wanna be nice! Especially not to _you_!"

Without warning, something shot out of the cave and sailed just over Silverspit's head. He gasped, squashing himself as low to the ground as possible and looked up as the thing looped around and went back into the cave. It looked like a stick, only thicker, and it was an odd grey-white color instead of brown.

The Caterpie shuddered in fear, and shut his eyes. "W-well... lettin' me in th' cave was still nice... s-so thank you!" With that, he charged away, searching for cover. He spotted a nearby tree, and used his sticky-tipped feet to climb up, and rested on a small branch. "M-momma..." he whispered quietly. "I-I'm tryin' to do wh-what you wanted... I wanna be a Butterfree... an' I wanna find you..."

"Hey."

Blinking, Silverspit looked down. Something stood at the foot of the tree, and was looking up at him... but the appearance made him shudder. It had a huge, grey-ish head, but it wasn't soft like his—it almost looked like it would be very hard to the touch. Its eyes were big and black, and he couldn't see any pupils... The rest of its body was orange and white, it stood on two legs, and it shouldered the stick thing he'd seen earlier.

...Wait... was that...?

"I-is _that_ what you look like?" Silverspit exclaimed, his already large eyes widening even more.

"Yeah," she said, hanging the paw that held the stick down to her side. "...Sorry for throwin' my bone at you."

"I-it's oka—"

He froze, his father's voice echoing through his mind.

" _Marrowaks are terrible creatures! When they're little, they steal the bones of their parents!"_

The Caterpie shrieked, backing away. "Y-you're a Marrowak! Daddy told me about you!"

The "Marrowak" stared at him, though he got the impression that she was glaring. "I'm _not_ a Marrowak! I'm a Cubone." She slapped the bone she carried into the palm of her other paw. "But I'll be a Marrowak someday…"

"You're bad! Daddy told me!"

"Look you, Silverspray or whatever your name is, I dunno what your daddy said, but he's a Butterfree, not a Marrowak, and he doesn't know a thing about us!"

Immediately anger burned in the little Bug-type's heart. "Yes he does! Daddy knows everything!" he shouted, matching the Cubone's glare with one of his own.

"If we're so bad, how come I helped you?"

Silverspit gasped.

"...You even said it, yourself."

The Caterpie blinked, and slumped down on the branch, curling up. Was his dad really wrong...? After a moment, a few tears dripped down his snout. "S-sorry..."

"Hmph." The Cubone shouldered her bone. "And like I said, I'm sorry for throwing this at you. ...I was mad."

"I-I know..." He blinked, trying to rub his tears away with his tail. "Why're you so mad...?"

"That's none of your business!" she snapped, pounding her bone against the ground. Seeing the Caterpie tense up, she loosened her grip on the weapon. "...You can come down here if you want."

Silverspit shook his head. "N-no... Momma says I gotta stay safe... s-so I gotta stay up here."

"I... I can keep you safe." The Cubone looked downward.

Immediately Silverspit perked up. "Really?" he exclaimed, eyes sparkling.

"Just get down here."

Grinning, the Caterpie immediately charged down the tree trunk and stood next to the Cubone. Now that he was closer, he could see the eyes in the holes in her head...

Actually, was that really her head? He looked around her, eyes wide in fascination. On closer examination, he found that it wasn't really her head—it was something she was wearing on her head. Was that a "bone," too?

"What's... what's that on your head?" he asked quietly. "Is it a—"

"It's a hat," she answered quickly, lowering her head and gazing down at him. Her eyes were narrowed slightly. "Some of us Cubones wear them."

"Wh-what's a hat?"

"...Nevermind." She heaved a sigh, crossing her arms. "Silverspray, right?"

"Silverspit..." the Caterpie corrected, wincing. He hesitated, afraid that he would get yelled at again for doing that, but the Cubone kept silent. "S-so... What's your name?"

"I don't have one!"

Immediately Silverspit curled up. "I-I'm sorry! P-please stop yelling... I didn' mean to make you mad...!"

The Ground-type slumped a little. "Sorry," she answered softly. "But I really don't have a name. I don't."

"Well... what'll I call you, then?" The Caterpie uncurled a little, looking up at the bigger Pokémon. "C'n I call you 'Cubone?'"

"No!" She shot him a glare. "Should I call you 'Caterpie?'"

Silverspit whined a little, looking down. "You said... you'd protect me, right?" He brushed one of his feet over the grass beneath him.

"...Yeah, I did." The Cubone shouldered her bone again. "You'll get killed out here, with your parents gone."

"Then..." He raised his head, looking her right in the eyes. "C'n I call you 'Protector?'"

At that, the Ground-type started. "Um..." She looked away for a moment and kept quiet. Silverspit thought he heard a strange rattling noise, but before he could determine what it was, she turned to face him again. When she spoke up, her voice was a lot quieter than it had been. "Yeah. You... can call me that, if you want."

Silverspit smiled. "Thanks." He crawled a little bit closer and went to nuzzle his new friend, but she jerked back.

"That doesn't mean you get to hang over me!" Protector snapped, rising up a paw. "It just means I won't let anything kill you."

The Caterpie was about to ask why she wanted to help him like that, but this time he held his tongue; he didn't want to risk making her mad again. As he thought about what to say next, he shuddered, feeling hunger pains again. "I'm hungry..."

"Well, you're not getting all my berries," Protector said, starting to stomp off. "I collected 'em all for me."

Silverspit watched her leave, then whimpered, turning down and nibbling at the grass beneath him. He could eat grass, but he wanted some yummy berries... They tasted a lot better. His mind wandered as he swallowed some of the plants... Something sweet sounded really good right now...

_Thud thud thud thud._

"Huh?" Silverspit sprayed a plume of stink in surprise, jumping back. "Wh-what was that?" Looking around, he started to see an Oran and three Pechas lying next to him. "R'... these for me?"

Protector crossed her arms and glanced away. "Yeah."

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, grinning and diving for one of the Pechas. But before he could take a bite, he stopped, looking up. "But I thought you said..."

"I said you couldn't have all of the berries." She snorted. "Didn't say you couldn't have _some_."

Silverspit looked at her for a moment, then grinned. "Thanks," he said, right before he began to chomp at the nearest Pecha. The sweet taste was so refreshing...

As he ate, he kept an eye trained on Protector. She was standing nearby, but wasn't facing him; instead, she was looking around the forest, watching out for him. After the rough few days he'd had, it was nice to know that there was someone who seemed to care about him.

* * *

"You can sleep in here as long as you want. Just don't eat the berries without my permission."

"'Kay!"

Silverspit curled up on the dirt floor of the cave, still not quite used to its hard surface. Fortunately, he felt much better than he had yesterday, since the Oran he'd consumed had helped take care of his bruise, and the Pechas had helped keep his appetite down for now.

"And don't get too close to the entrance of the cave, all right?" Protector tapped her bone against the ground. "Your scent'll attract predators, and I don't want them here."

"Protector?" The Caterpie sat up, trying to focus his gaze on her in the darkness.

"...Yeah, what?"

"D'you think... d-d'you think my momma and daddy are still out there?" he asked, looking toward the entrance to the cave.

The Cubone was silent, and it was too dark to determine her expression. She just stood there for a while, unmoving, and when Silverspit was about to speak up again, she cut him off. "Don't ask me that."

The Bug-type blinked. "Huh? B-but why?"

"Just don't! I don't know," she growled, turning away.

His antennae drooping, Silverspit curled up again. "...I wanna find them again... When I'm a big strong Butterfree, I c'n find 'em..." His companion kept silent, so he went on. "An'... Maybe I c'n find Jirachi."

"Jirachi?" She didn't turn around, but did turn her head slightly.

"Y-yeah, Daddy told me about him." He was starting to get sleepy... "He said... Jirachi lives… in mountains… n' grants wishes... if you find him..."

"Wishes?"

"Need to put… your foot… on th' leaves… on his head…"

"That sounds stupid." Protector looked back at the entrance to the cave, and glared. She expected to hear the Caterpie protest, but instead heard the sound of soft breathing behind her. Turning around to confirm that the Caterpie was indeed asleep, she shouldered her bone and left the cave.

* * *

"You awake yet?"

Silverspit blinked wearily. "I'm awake now..." He was still tired, but maybe he should start getting used to sleeping less now, he thought.

"Good. Let's go."

"Huh?" The Caterpie stood up, now quite a bit more awake. Shifting his antennae around, he was able to determine that the berries at the back of the cave were gone. "Where'd they...?"

"I have 'em here," Protector said. She shifted her bone, which now had something hanging from it. To Silverspit, it looked like a bunch of leaves stuck together. "Wasn't gonna leave 'em."

"Y-you're leaving?" the Caterpie cried, eyes wide with fear. "B-but you said...!"

"I know what I said!" the Cubone shouted, shooting a glare at the bug. "That's why you're gonna come with me."

"Come with you?" He calmed down a little, but something about that worried him. "Why'd we gotta leave?"

"'Cuz we can't stay here forever." She turned around and began to stomp out of the cave. "We have to keep moving."

"...My momma and daddy never made us move out of our tree..." Silverspit said quietly as he started to crawl after her.

"Your tree's gone," Protector said, "'cuz of the fire."

The Caterpie whimpered at that memory, ducking his head. "Y-yeah... But... th' cave's fine, isn't it? Why do we have to leave it?"

Protector did not answer, but instead kept walking. She led him out of the cave, stopped to look around, then continued through the forest. The sun was starting to make its way up through the sky, and the forest was lit pleasantly, but she didn't appear to care.

Silverspit, meanwhile, found himself smiling at the nice day. "Sometimes Daddy'd carry me an' my brothers around when it was sunny n' stuff like this..." he reflected. "Momma would, too, sometimes." Soon his happy mood melted, though, and was replaced with anxiety. "I wanna find 'em..."

Suddenly he looked up, hearing an odd rattling sound again. He couldn't place what it was, but it sounded close by. "What's that?"

Immediately Protector took the bundle of leaves off of her bone and chucked the bone into a nearby bush, causing a couple Rattata to dart out, hissing. "They were gonna go after the food," she mumbled before going to retrieve her weapon.

"Oh," Silverspit said, blinking. He wasn't sure if that was the cause of the rattling noise, but at least Protector was still, well... protecting him.

"Things are dangerous," the Cubone said as she returned. "They're dangerous everywhere..."

"Yeah." The Caterpie's antennae drooped. "Lotsa Pokémon try to eat me."

"...Some things are more dangerous than Pokémon," Protector said. She continued walking before Silverspit could question that.

The duo kept mostly silent as they walked, although they took frequent breaks so Silverspit could eat. During one break, when the Caterpie was taking a moment to shake off his old skin, he raised the question. "Where're we goin', anyway?"

Protector looked out beyond the trees. Though that "hat" she wore still shadowed her eyes, Silverspit thought he could see those eyes sparkle for a moment.

"To the mountains."

* * *

Silverspit knew almost nothing about mountains. He had remembered his father's mentioning them, but had never connected them with a solid picture. The Butterfree had described them as "very tall rocks," but the Caterpie was never certain how high they were. Taller than a tree? That couldn't be—nothing was taller than a tree.

But other than that, he did know one other thing about them: they were very, very far away.

Protector had led him through the forest all day, but he'd never gotten a glimpse of any tall rocks. There were some big ones, but when he'd asked if they were mountains, his companion would only give him a sideways glance and keep walking.

Finally, by the time the sun was beginning to set, Silverspit was absolutely exhausted, and he hadn't seen any sign of these mountains that Protector had mentioned. "When'll we get there...?" he whined, lying on his side.

"Maybe in another day or so, if we keep walking," Protector answered, sitting down. She'd been walking just as much as he had been crawling, but she didn't seem so tired. "We'll eat for a bit, and find a place to sleep."

Silverspit looked longingly at the bundle of leaves at the Cubone's side. "C'n I have some berries...?"

"No!" Protector shot a glare and pulled the bag close to herself. "You ate almost half of 'em already!"

The Caterpie whimpered. "But I gotta...! I gotta eat a lot..." He glanced down and began munching on the grass beneath him. "I'm so hungry..."

"...Fine, just one more." The Cubone looked through the bundle of leaves, pulled out an Aspear berry, and rolled it over to her companion. "That's all for t'night." She took out an Oran for herself and stuck it under her "hat" to eat it.

Wincing, Silverspit took a bite of the sour berry, and shuddered a little. These really weren't his favorite, but he had to eat something... He wished his parents were here to bring him more berries than this. But it was better than nothing, at least. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"Hmph." Protector stood up and glanced around. "Over there," she said, pointing a claw in the direction of a tall rhododendron with branches and leaves that reached the ground. "It'll be a lil' stuffy but no-one'll see us."

Silverspit finished the berry and looked up at the plant that his companion was pointing at. "'Kay." Wearily he dragged himself over to it, but he was so tired...

Something lifted him off the ground, and he yelped, only to find that it was just Protector. She carried him over to the plant and set him next to it. "Go on," she said. "I'll come later."

"Thanks." The Caterpie smiled a little before crawling under the thick leaves of the rhododendron. He wondered what Protector was waiting for, but before he could think on it too long, he fell asleep.


	4. The Sound

" _Momma! Daddy!" Silverspit cried, crawling with all his might. He could see the forms of the two Butterfree flying away, but no matter how fast he ran, he never seemed to get closer. "Come back!"_

_Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps next to him, and turned to see some other Caterpies crawling toward the Butterfree as well. Immediately he recognized them as his siblings, Willowing and Munch._

" _Mother!" they cried out in unison._

_Silverspit stopped running._

_Their voices didn't sound right. Why didn't they sound like his brothers?_

" _Mother!"_

_The voices were echoed, and didn't sound like the voices of Caterpies. It didn't sound like anything he'd ever heard before._

" _ **Mother!**_ _"_

_This time, it was followed by some other strange noises. Silverspit crouched low to the ground, eyes wide. What was wrong? That couldn't be his brothers! What was making the noise?_

_The noise continued to echo on, and the little Caterpie tried to ignore it. He could still see the forms of his parents up ahead, and started running again. "Momma! Daddy! Come back! I'm scared...!"_

_But over his cries, the haunting sounds continued._

* * *

Silverspit opened his eyes to the sight of sunlight poking between the leaves of the rhododendron. Blinking, he stood up, looking around. Something was different... But what...

Suddenly he stood upright. "Protector?" he gasped, looking around again. The Cubone was nowhere in sight.

Now starting to panic, the Caterpie darted out from under the plant. "Protector! Where'd you—"

He stopped. She was sitting a few feet away, her back toward him.

"...Oh, you're awake now." Her voice sounded rough. "Good morning."

"G'mornin'..." Silverspit replied, ducking down a little. "R'you okay?"

Protector turned to face him. Again, it was hard to judge her expression because of that hat she wore, but he could tell that something looked different. On closer examination, he noticed that there were dark lines by the eye-holes in her hat.

"I'm all right," she replied, standing up. "I was just waiting for you to wake up..."

"Oh." The Caterpie shifted his feet uncomfortably. "C'n I have some berries...?"

Protector hesitated for a moment before looking into the sack of berries that she'd been carrying. She pulled out a Pecha and rolled it over to him, then dropped the bundle of leaves.

"Thanks!" Silverspit relaxed a little and began to munch on the berry, glad to be able to eat one of his favorite berries right after waking up. As he ate, though, he watched Protector, and was a little confused to see that she wasn't getting some berries for herself. "...R'you gonna eat?"

The Cubone shouldered her bone. "That's the last berry," she said quietly.

Immediately the Caterpie froze, eyes widening. After a moment or two, he backed away from the berry and looked down at a pebble on the ground. "You c'n have the rest..."

Protector wordlessly picked up the berry and stuck it under her hat. "We'll need to find our own food now," she said, looking away. "So tell me if you smell anything."

"...'Kay." Silverspit's antennae twitched, but he couldn't smell anything nearby, other than the faint scent of berries that still remained on the bundle of leaves. He crawled up to it and began to nibble on it. "I'm still hungry..."

Protector sighed. "Go ahead 'n eat... then we'll keep going."

The Caterpie tried to hold back a whimper as he ate. It looked like their journey to the mountains was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.

* * *

"Call my name if you find anything!" she'd told him.

But Silverspit had been wandering around for a while, and he hadn't found any berries... Or, at least, it seemed to him like he'd been out for a while. There were starting to get less and less trees, too.

It made him nervous... Every little sound startled him, and he was afraid that some big Flying-type or another Dunsparce or something was going to try to eat him again. Protector said she would help him, but how could she do it if she wasn't there?

Suddenly he stood upright on his tail, his antennae twitching. That smelled like an Oran plant! Grinning, he dropped down onto all fours and darted toward the source of the smell. It wasn't long before a familiar plant came into sight—the same kind of plant that he and his brothers had been eating before they'd gotten separated. It looked so delicious!

Silverspit stopped at the base of the plant and looked up. There were about three or four delicious-looking berries there. He was so excited that he almost forgot that he wasn't supposed to eat these right away—Protector needed to eat, too!

"Protector!" he called, turning around and glancing around. But, much to his confusion, the Cubone was nowhere nearby. " _Protector_!" he called again. Still no answer.

Frowning, he turned back to the plant and looked up at it. He probably couldn't get these berries down by himself... He began to crawl up the plant, then got an idea, and crawled up to the very top. Once there, he stood up as high as he could, looking around. "Protector!" But there was no sign of the Cubone.

Silverspit's heart sank. Where was she...? Slowly he lowered himself back to his feet—

—and _shrieked_ when a Pidgeot swooped by him, barely missing.

"I'm sorry, Andy! I'll get him this time!"

Silverspit climbed down to the middle of the plant, trying to hide himself amongst the leaves. That was about all he could do—he was almost immobile from fear. _No, no, no! I can't get eaten! I need to be a Butterfree! Protector, where are you?_

Suddenly, he heard something that filled him with even more terror.

A strange noise, one that he'd never heard before, sounded somewhere off in the distance. It reminded him of someone talking, but it wasn't any words he understood. It almost sounded like gibberish—except one phrase:

"Wing Attack!"

The Caterpie screamed and dove out of the bush, just as the Pidgeot slashed through the tree using a powerful attack. He didn't stop when he hit the ground—he kept running as fast as his tiny feet would carry him, blind with terror. " _PROTECTOR_!" he screamed. "HELP ME!"

He could hear the strange voice again, and another phrase he recognized: "Peck!"

Immediately he rolled to the side, but still shrieked when the Pidgeot's beak grazed him. The sharp beak sliced into his side, sending him writhing in agony. He couldn't even shout for help anymore—he could only gag and watch in terror as the massive bird swooped at him again, beak open wide.

What took place next happened too fast for him to see. The bird suddenly dropped from the sky and slammed, hard, to the ground, a stone landing next to it. The Caterpie could hear the sound of snarling, followed by the sound of claws tearing through grass.

Protector was soon there at the Pidgeot's side, and she wasted no time in raising her bone into the air and slamming it into the bird's head.

Silverspit was in too much pain to register just what she'd done, and he was further confused by the Pidgeot's becoming enveloped in red light, and suddenly disappearing. Slowly he looked over to where he'd heard the strange voice before, and in dull surprise noticed a strange Pokémon there. It stood on two legs, and it was very tall and skinny. It also had strange fur and skin that seemed to mismatch, somehow...

Before he could think too long on this, Protector stood in front of him, holding her bone up threateningly. The other strange Pokémon stared at them for a while before tossing something. Suddenly a Masquerain was flying there, looking at them. The strange Pokémon said something, and the Masquerain flew up to them.

"What are you doing?" he asked, lowering his decorative antennae to show that he meant no harm. "Why are you protecting the Cater—"

" _Get… away_ ," Protector growled. Her breathing was ragged.

"Andy just wants to know."

The Cubone gave a wild snarl, chucking her bone at the Masquerain. Before it could make contact, the Pokémon was enveloped in red light, and, like the Pidgeot did before, disappeared.

Protector caught her bone and stared at the strange Pokémon, who stared back for a moment before walking away. The Cubone kept her eye on the spot where the creature had disappeared between the trees, and clenched her bone tightly. She was starting to tremble.

"P-pro... tec..." Silverspit managed to choke out, but started when the Ground-type suddenly dropped to her knees. "Huh...?"

She covered what little could be seen of her face through her hat, and began to cry.

The little Caterpie started. _That's... that's the sound I heard in my dream...! It was... Protector... crying...?_

Tears dripped from the eye holes in her hat, staining the same spots they had the night before. At the same time, the cries echoed through her hat, causing a combination of an odd rattling and a haunting sound, which continued for a long while after the strange Pokémon had left.

* * *

"I... I guess I should tell you what happened."

Protector had gathered up the Oran berries and some others that she'd found, and carried them and Silverspit away. She'd made him eat some of the Oran berries, which had helped his cut a lot, and made him feel much better.

Now they were in a different spot, and there were even less trees than before. This was still a scary thing for Silverspit, but there was something weighing more heavily on his mind.

"Wh-why... why did you cry?"

Protector looked away. "You saw the thing, didn't you? The thing that was ordering the Pokémon around?"

Silverspit blinked. "But... I-I thought it _was_ a Pokémon!"

Somehow, she didn't snap at him this time. "It's not. It... it's something called a human." She looked him in the eye. "I said there were worse things out there than Pokémon..."

"R' humans... _that_ bad?" The Caterpie pressed himself lower to the ground, looking around as though expecting to see another one of these "humans" wandering around.

The Cubone began to shiver again, but shook her head, fighting to keep control. "Yes. They steal Pokémon and make them do bad things. Like the human that tried to make his Pidgeot eat you."

Silverspit cringed and whimpered.

"And... they..." Protector drew a deep breath, looking up into the evening sky. "One... one human stole my mother."

"Huh?" Silverspit gasped, sitting upright. "Why?"

"I don't know!" Protector threw out her arms. "I don't know! But he did! And... and he..." She was starting to shake again, and her voice sounded more choked. "He... he found me later... and he told my mother to fight me."

"No!" The Caterpie shook his head, tears stinging at his eyes. "No! Moms can't do that! My mom wouldn't..." He began whimpering at the thought.

"She... she didn't want to... She told me to fight her. She... wanted to lose..." The Cubone swallowed. "...to... protect me..."

Silverspit went quiet.

"She... the human was mad at her... he wanted her to keep fighting... but she couldn't fight me... and I couldn't fight her...!" She shook her head. "So she tried to fight the human!"

Silverspit looked up. "Did she beat 'im?"

Protector stared at him. "...No," she said weakly. "The trainer sent out one of his other Pokémon... who f-fought Mother, a-and..."

The Caterpie stared for a moment, and his eyes widened in horror. "B-but... but moms can't do that...! They can't... Th-they're always okay! They j-just get lost... sometimes..."

"My mother wasn't okay," Protector said quietly. "Th-this thing I wear... i-it's not just a hat." Raising her claw, she tapped the side of it a few times. "It... it was my mother's... it w-was her skull."

After taking a second to process that, Silverspit backed away several steps. "B-but why...?"

"It's... what we do... Like how you Caterpies eat and eat and eat... Not all Pokémon do what you do, and not all Pokémon do what we do." She looked up into the sky again, as the sun began to set. "Not every Cubone t-turns into a Marrowak... Only if we have to t-take our m-mother's skull." She went silent for a moment before adding, her voice barely above a whisper. "I-I... I don't want to be a Marrowak..."

Silverspit gazed at her cautiously. "Why?"

"B-because..." A few tears rolled down her hat—the Marrowak's skull. "I want my mother."


	5. The Change

The two of them were mostly quiet the next day. They'd gone to sleep, woken up, and kept traveling. But as always, they had to make frequent stops so Silverspit could eat, and those frequent stops were becoming even more frequent as the Caterpie's appetite grew. He found that he had to settle for grass and plain leaves rather than berries more often than he would like, but at this point he didn't care anymore—he was just hungry. His shedding was becoming more frequent as well.

But as he traveled and ate, he couldn't put what Protector had told him out of his mind. That terrible story... It made him scared. What if that was what happened to his mother? What if she wasn't coming back? The thought caused him to sniffle and tears to form in his eyes, but whenever that happened, Protector would wrap her arm around him.

As he traveled, though, there were a couple other things that he found bothering him—the fact that the trees were becoming sparser, and the fact that there was something very dark on the horizon, and it wasn't a cloud.

"Where're the trees goin'?" he asked between mouthfuls of grass.

"We're not in the forest anymore," Protector answered, gazing out into the horizon. "The mountains are away from the forest."

"The mountains...?"

The Cubone nodded, and pointed out to the dark forms he'd noticed earlier.

"Those're the mountains?" Silverspit cried, sitting up. "B-but they're so big...!" He took a few steps back, ducking his head fearfully. "Wh-why do we gotta go there?"

Protector was quiet for a few moments, but soon she spoke up without turning around. "You want to find your parents, don't you?"

"Y-yeah..." Cautiously he raised his head again. "Are... are they there?"

"I don't know, but Jirachi is." Protector bowed her head. "He'll find them for you."

At first, Silverspit thought he'd heard her wrong. But as he thought it through, excitement built up in his heart, and he darted up to her, nuzzling her side. "Th-thank you...!" he exclaimed. "Thank you, Protector!"

The Cubone didn't reply, but she wrapped her arm around his side again, and he knew she was saying, "You're welcome."

* * *

It got very cold one night. The winds whipped around them, sending chills through their bodies. The fact that they were getting tired from a day's worth of traveling didn't help them much, and soon they would have to settle down to sleep.

"Over there," Protector said, pointing a claw at a lone tree a short distance off. "Let's sleep there."

Silverspit squinted through the wind, but was able to spot the tree. "O-okay…" he stammered, crawling over to the tree. Though its branches swayed, it was a welcome sight. He was tired, but not tired enough to render him unable to climb up to a branch.

Protector stood at the roots of the tree, watching the Caterpie climb up with his sticky feet. Once he had settled between the trunk and a branch, she nodded and sat with her back against the tree. "G'night, Silverspit," she said quietly.

"G'night, Protector…"

With that, the two settled down, trying to get to sleep.

Yet, an hour later, Silverspit still had not drifted off. It was cold, and despite the shelter of the leaves, he could still feel the wind. It also wasn't quite like the trees back home… for one, his siblings weren't curled up next to him, and he wasn't under his parents' watchful eyes. No matter how many times he uncurled and tried to curl up in a more comfortable position, he couldn't get to sleep.

The Caterpie lay on the tree branch, listening to the whistle of the cold wind and the ruffling of the leaves. The sounds were not comforting; they were a reminder that he was far, far away from home. But despite this, he was so weary that his mind began to wander off, becoming unfocused.

Eventually he heard the wind slow, and the leaves quiet. And, in their place he could hear a familiar rattling accompanied by a haunting noise. Snapping back to attention and uncurling, he crawled to the side of the branch and looked down.

Protector was curled up and shivering between two tree roots. And once again, she was crying.

Silverspit hesitated, watching his friend below him, and slowly began his way down the trunk of the tree. He crawled over one of the roots, to the ground, and around to the Cubone's side, watching her carefully. Her eyes were closed.

Feeling something at her side, Protector gasped and opened her eyes. She saw Silverspit curled up next to her, looking up at her with his wide eyes.

"I-I can't sleep," he whispered.

"I can't either," the Cubone said with a sniffle.

The two lay there for a while, Silverspit cuddling close and Protector trying to calm down. Neither of them talked, instead watching the branches of the tree above them and watching the twinkling stars above. A Noctowl flew silently overhead, and Protector wrapped her arm around Silverspit.

"D'you know much 'bout Jirachi?" He asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Nothing more than you told me."

"Oh." The Caterpie glanced away. "…How many wishes d'you think he grants?"

"I dunno."

"…Oh." Silverspit went quiet again. After a while, he heard Protector give a shaky sigh, and turned to look at her again. Through the holes in the skull, he could see that her eyes were once again shining with tears, and he followed her gaze. She was staring up at the sky, looking at the full moon.

He stared along with her, until exhaustion finally allowed them to fall asleep.

* * *

The mountains were further away then he thought. They had been traveling for days, and while they were getting closer, it still seemed like it was taking forever, and it wasn't helping that Silverspit was feeling tired a lot now.

"Ugh..." he groaned as he shook off the last bit of his old skin. "C'n we stop for t'day...?"

"It's not the end of the day yet," Protector replied with a sigh. "We're gonna keep going."

The Caterpie slowly crawled up to his friend. "C'n you carry me...?"

"...No."

"B-but why?" he squeaked. He tried to sit up, but lacked the energy. "You'd carry me around b'fore!"

"You were smaller then," Protector said, crossing her arms. "You're harder to carry now."

"Smaller...?" Silverspit blinked. "B-but I'm still small!"

"No, you're a lot bigger." The Cubone put her paw by her hip. "You used to be that big... but now you're bigger. You're growing a lot."

"Is... is that why I've been so hungry?" Silverspit exclaimed, eyes wide. "Oh..." Suddenly he lay down, shivering.

Protector stood up and began walking. "C'mon, we have to keep moving." She stomped through the dirt, but was a little surprised to find that Silverspit was not following. That surprise quickly heightened when she heard him give a loud, wet cough, and she spun around to face him.

Silverspit was laying there, a puddle of the fluid that gave him his name in front of him and all around his mouth. He coughed again, spitting more of it up, and suddenly threw his head back. The silvery spray shot up into the air and fell around his body, covering him. But even when he was completely covered, he didn't stop—the spray continued to coat him until it formed a strange shape around him, and quickly hardened into a green shell.

"Ugh..." Silverspit blinked wearily through his new eyes as the blurry form of a Cubone approached him. But he was starting to sway, and fell to his side, unconscious.

Protector stopped, and stood there in awe at the Metapod lying before her.


	6. The Mistake

He couldn't stop crying.

" _Why_?" he sobbed. "Why'm I like this? I'm s-supposed to be a Butterfree…!"

"I don't know," Protector replied, hoisting him up. She had him tied to her back with some vines. "I think some Pokémon turn into something else twice."

"I d-don't wanna be like this!" Silverspit cried. "I c'n hardly move!"

"Then don't try." The Cubone sighed. "You're probably just tired after changing so fast."

"It's not fair…!"

"Why?"

"'Cuz… I c-can't move…!"

"But you'll be a Butterfree later, won't you?"

"I—I think so…"

Protector stopped walking, and looked over her shoulder, staring into his eye. "You change 'cuz it's normal for Caterpies to do that. I'm gonna change… because my mom had to protect me."

Despite the skull, Silverspit could clearly see the tears shining in Protector's eyes.

He never again complained about unfairness.

* * *

They were at the foot of the mountains, but Silverspit couldn't help feeling uneasy. He'd never been in a place like this before—the tall rocks were cold, dark, and foreboding… and there were no trees. Still, he tried to remind himself of why they were going there in the first place.

"Where d'you think Jirachi is?" the Metapod asked, trying to keep his mind off of his surroundings.

"Dunno. Maybe in a cave." Protector turned her head, surveying the mountains. "There's gotta be one somewhere around here.

"A cave? L-like the one you lived in?"

"Yeah, something like that… but Jirachi'll probably be in a deeper cave, I think."

"A… deeper cave?" Silverspit's eyes widened; the cave they'd been in before had been scary enough! "I-I don't wanna go into a deep cave!"

"Don't you wanna find Jirachi?" Protector turned her head. "We've come a really long way."

"B-but I don't like the dark!"

"Silverspit…" The Cubone pulled the vines off of her shoulders and carefully let the Metapod down to the ground. She then turned and faced him, looking him in the eye. "What do you call me?"

"…Protector…"

"Yeah. Haven't I protected you before?"

"Y-yeah…"

"So can you trust me to protect you this time?"

Silverspit stared up at the Cubone. He'd been traveling with her so long, he hadn't thought about it much… but as he had gotten bigger, so had she. He was still too young to understand much, but she looked different than when he'd first seen her, somehow. She didn't seem as angry as she used to, and…

"…Yeah," he said finally, looking down. "I-I trust you."

Protector smiled. "Thanks." With that, she pulled him up onto her back again, and began her trek up the mountain.

The paths were steep, but the Cubone's steps were steady on the rocky terrain. She moved from path to path, looking around all sides of the mountain and trying to find a cave. Occasionally they'd come across a shallow one, but it was usually populated by Geodudes or Zubats, which would quickly chase them out. All the while, it was getting darker.

The two had remained quiet during their search—Protector because she was concentrating on her search, and Silverspit… Something had been weighing heavily on his mind.

As the stars began to come out, one by one, the Metapod finally spoke up. "Protector?"

The Cubone stopped. "Yeah?"

"There's… s-something I wanted to t-tell you…"

"What is it?"

"I—" He saw something, and froze.

"…Silverspit?"

"…My dad… he said Jirachi was like the little lights in the sky."

"Yeah?"

"Is… _that_ Jirachi?"

"… _What_?" Protector whipped around.

Before she could spot anything, she heard a wild snarl, and something struck her in the side.

Silverspit squealed in terror as the two of them tumbled off of the path and down the side of the mountain, a Charmeleon slashing and shrieking at them all the while. His tail-flame burned with an angry furor, lighting up the horror on Silverspit's features and the shock in Protector's eyes. The three of them rolled down the mountainside, finally hitting a lower plateau.

Protector moaned, feeling a few cuts open on her side as she sat up. "Silver—" Her address turned into a horrified gasp when she couldn't feel the vines around her shoulders. " _Silverspit_!"

Hearing a pained yell, she snapped her head to the side, and her heart plummeted.

The Charmeleon had Silverspit in his jaws.

She didn't hear the scream that tore through her throat as she charged forward, and she didn't care when she saw Silverspit's shell briefly shine before the Fire-type dropped him, howling in pain. She held her mother's femur tightly, and swung it with all her might.

The Charmeleon's head snapped in the opposite direction, and he fell limp to the ground, his tail-flame fading.

Protector's breathing was ragged as she dropped the bone and turned to the Metapod that lay nearby. She dropped to her knees, trying to look him over. There were holes in his shell where the fangs had bit through, and an off-color fluid was leaking out of them. "Silverspit say something, please say something, please say something _please_."

"P… pro… tector?"

Her tears followed their familiar path down the sides of her skull. "Y-you'll… you'll be okay…" she whispered, picking him up. "We're almost there…"

"I…"

She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. "You'll find your parents…"

"N-no…"

"Yes." She held him tighter, standing up.

"N-no, Pro… tector…" Silverspit's voice was getting quieter. "Th-that's not…"

She loosened her grip, looking down into his eyes, and held back a sob when she saw them growing unfocused.

"I… w-wanted to wish… for your mom… to come back."

Protector swayed, as though struck. "Th-that's what you…?"

Silverspit gave a quiet sound in confirmation, and for a moment, his eyes seemed to gleam in a smile before the light within them faded.

And throughout the mountains, every Pokémon could hear the haunting melody of a Cubone's mournful cry.


	7. The Wish

Her steps felt mechanical. And with the rhythmic, echoing scrapes that her claws made against the stone, they almost sounded like it, too.

The Cubone walked through the depths of the cave, holding the shell of a Metapod in her arms. If there were a light shining, it would have illuminated the dark stains on her skull helmet, though they had long since dried. The other Pokémon in the cave could sense her, but something within them told them to leave her alone.

Likewise, something within the Cubone told her to press forward.

It was the only thing she could feel now. Her sorrow had fled through her tears, and her anger had escaped through her mournful howls. She would have been as hollow as the skull she wore had it not been for the drive that pushed her onward.

As she walked deeper and deeper, she could see a faint light just ahead. The closer she got, the larger it grew, until she could barely pick out the strange form of another Pokémon, unlike any she'd seen before. It was in an odd section of the cave: the cave became narrow at one point, but seemed to expand again after that, opening up into a "room." The Pokémon was sleeping on a rock in the middle of the room.

She stopped at the point where the cave narrowed, and looked down at the shell she carried, avoiding its blank eyes. But no tears fell, not even when the echoes of the Metapod's last words filled her mind.

It was time.

She walked into the room, staring up at the Pokémon on the rock up ahead. The light source, she found, came from the Pokémon itself—not surprising, given what she'd heard about the creature before. Its body was white, save for a few markings on its face, a dark slit on its stomach, and its head and wings, the latter of which were yellow. The head had three points, each with a strange rectangular leaf attached to the tip.

There was no doubt about it: this was the legendary Jirachi.

She stared at the being, but not with wonder. After a moment, she looked back at the shell she carried, and carefully set it down before climbing up onto the rock and staring down at Jirachi once more. It was such a tiny creature—smaller than she, even—yet somehow it could grant any wish... couldn't it?

There was one way to find out.

Drawing in a deep breath, she reached down and rubbed her paw in the dirt that coated the stone. Once it was on her paw, she held it out to one of Jirachi's leaves, but stopped. She looked down at the shell on the ground as Silverspit's last words rang out in her mind once more.

Her arm shook, and she pulled it back, feeling the skull on her head with the knuckle of her other hand, which still carried a femur. She kept it there for a moment, but her gaze kept focusing on the shell on the ground.

And all at once, her mind was full of confusion. She turned to the femur, and back to the shell, then to the femur again, back and forth. The voice of the being she had failed to protect echoed in her mind quietly at first, but it gradually grew in volume until she could hear the voice practically shouting within her. Yet at the same time she could feel the femur she clasped in the palm of her paw—feel the bone that once bore the weight of the being that bore her. The voice, the bone, the shell, the skull—

She screamed, and flung her mother's femur into the wall, snapping it in half. And before she could question herself, she slammed her right paw into one of the leaves on Jirachi's head.

Nothing happened.

She pulled her paw away, staring at the faint grey paw print it had left. But other than that, there was no change in the sleeping Pokémon. She stared down at him through the sockets of the skull she wore, her eyes wide underneath.

Jirachi did not wake up.

And she felt it all—the weight of everything, the days and days and days of travel, the dangers they'd encountered, the promises she'd failed to keep, the friend she'd failed to protect, and the quest—the quest that had been vain from the start.

The wave of anguish crashed over her, and she dropped to her knees, wailing. Tremors shook her entire frame, and the skull on her head rattled, while her cries escaped the old bone in the form of a haunting melody. It drifted throughout the cold room, bouncing off the walls in echoes that amplified the song of her broken heart.

"That... that song..."

She froze.

"Why do you sing so sadly?"

The Cubone looked up in shock, staring through tear-filled eyes at the small Pokémon that was sitting beside her. "I-I..." she whispered, suddenly finding that her tongue felt dumb.

"What's your name?" Jirachi asked, looking up at her with his innocent eyes. "Do you have one?"

She was unable to look away, though she couldn't meet his eyes. "No."

"Oh." He blinked, but smiled a little. "My name is Jirachi. I can grant you a wish, since you left your mark on one of my tags." The legendary Pokémon kicked his little feet as he stared up at her expectantly.

"I..." She looked off to the side. "I was supposed... to protect someone... but I failed."

"Protect someone? Who?"

The Cubone looked down at the dead shell on the floor, and Jirachi followed her gaze.

"...That poor Pokémon," he whispered, his face falling.

"H-he... lost his parents, and I brought him here, so you could find them for him, but—" Her voice caught in her throat. "J-just before we got here, he said he had changed his wish. He said... th-that he wanted to wish for my m-mother to come back."

Jirachi nodded slowly. "Is that what you want to wish for?"

"No."

The legendary furrowed his brow in confusion.

"I-I... I don't deserve it." A few tears rolled down her cheeks again, dripping out from underneath the skull. "I failed at protecting him... I don't deserve something like that."

"You don't want to wish for anything, then?"

"I do..." The Cubone swallowed, looking up again. "I couldn't protect Silverspit... I-it wasn't fair. He n-never got the chance..." She shook her head. "B-bring him back... but bring him to his family, where they c-can protect him. I can't."

Jirachi stared at her for a moment before his gaze drifted back to the dead shell on the ground. "Is that truly what you want to wish for?"

"...Yes," the Cubone said, finally managing to keep her voice steady. "He deserves better than me."

Jirachi looked back at the Cubone, looking directly into her eyes until she looked at his. His gaze seemed to pierce through her, staring directly into her heart—her soul. And suddenly the Cubone became aware of how silent the cave had become: the faint movements of other Pokémon within the cave had ceased, and even the quiet whistle of wind coming from outside was absent.

There was a quick sound, like a faint zap of electricity, and all other sounds resumed.

The Cubone blinked, and looked back at the Metapod shell—or rather, where it had once been. She started, nearly falling off of the rock she sat upon. "Where—?"

"He's alive again." Jirachi said with a slow nod. "And he's with his family, like you asked."

Still staring at the empty spot on the floor, she felt a few more tears form in her eyes. But unlike any other tears she'd cried before, these ones felt different... as did her heart, which felt as though a weight had been lifted from it.

But despite this, she couldn't help looking back to the other side of the cave, where she'd thrown the femur. It was still lying on the ground, cracked completely in half.

"You made a great sacrifice," Jirachi said, his childlike voice sounding strangely serious. "You could have wished for your mother to return, but instead you wished for the well-being of another. I cannot grant you another wish, but I can say this: you will not go unrewarded for what you have done."

The Cubone continued to stare at the cracked bone, taking no notice as the legendary beside her lay on his back to fall asleep once more.


	8. The Protector

"Mother! Mother, help me!"

The tiny Cubone scrambled about the forest floor, running as fast as his short legs would carry him. His head was still tan, and had no bone covering around it, and he had yet to carry the weapon that was typical of his species. Glancing behind himself, he saw the Alakazam that darted toward him, eyes narrowed.

"Hypnosis!" came the human call from behind the Psychic type. Immediately the Pokémon responded, sending out psychic waves that surrounded the young Cubone in front of him.

"Moth... er..." the Cubone whimpered, staggering before falling to the ground in a sleepy daze.

The Alakazam stood over the wild Pokémon, gazing down at it with a disinterested look that clashed with his trainer's excited shouts. The human grabbed a sphere from his pocket and threw it full-force at the Cubone.

Before the sphere could make contact, a large being charged out of the brush and rammed its skull-clad head into the object. The sphere shattered, but not without creating a crack in the Marrowak's skull.

" _Marrowak,_ " came the Alakazam's echoing voice; his speech sounded only within her mind. " _You do not carry a weapon. And even if you wielded one, I could kill you._ "

The Marrowak growled, her claws digging into the ground.

" _Let the human do as he pleases, and no harm will come to you._ "

She didn't have to think before she worded her response. "I'd rather die than let your human steal my son," she snarled, eyes narrowing.

The Alakazam's eyes lit, and in an instant her body was contorting in pain.

It lasted for all of two seconds.

A high-pitched whine filled the air, and the Marrowak's pain ceased. She groaned, lifting her head to see what had happened. Much to her amazement, the Alakazam was doubled over, holding his hands over his ears. Though the strange noise had little effect on her, it appeared to be unbearable for the Psychic type, who was growling through clenched teeth at this point.

The whine suddenly took on a slightly higher pitch, and the Alakazam's eyes rolled back into his head as he fell to the ground, unconscious. His body was surrounded by a red light before it disappeared, and his shocked human spun around and fled.

The Marrowak lay there in shock for a moment before jumping to her feet. She didn't care about what had made the sound—all she cared about was the little Cubone that lay nearby, unconscious. She lifted him into her arms and looked him over; he was sleeping, but unhurt.

"So, you're a protector once more."

The Marrowak froze, her eyes wide. The voice was different, yet familiar at the same time... but she couldn't believe it. Slowly she turned, and gasped at the Pokémon was flying just a few feet away from her.

A Butterfree fluttered in the air, giving a smile seeming to light up his facial features. And though that face was different from what she'd known, she recognized him immediately.

"Silverspit...?"

He darted toward her before she could do the same, and nuzzled her skull helmet. "I thought I'd never find you again, Protector!"

The old name should have been welcoming, but instead it felt like a sting. She lowered her head. "Don't call me that. You know I didn't protect you."

Silverspit flew backward, giving her a saddened look. "What are you talking about?"

"That Charmeleon killed you... I can still remember it, after all these years. The only reason you're still alive is because Jirachi revived you."

"Yeah, but..." He flew closer to her again. "It was you who made the wish, wasn't it?"

"I... it... it was..." She swayed a little, causing the Cubone she held to stir.

Silverspit looked at the baby Pokémon. "When I came back, I was so happy to see my family... but I couldn't get you out of my mind. You had taken me all that way, and even when I'd told you to wish for something for yourself... you still wished to help me."

The two remained silent, watching as the baby Cubone stirred again before snuggling closer to his mother.

"...We Butterfree usually look for a mate after we leave our shells," Silverspit said slowly. "We start our own family... but I didn't want to do that."

The Marrowak looked up.

"I never forgot what you told me about your mother... and I couldn't stand the thought of something like that happening to you. I couldn't stand the thought of your child having to become a Marrowak." The Butterfree's eyes stared into the Marrowak's. "I didn't want a mate. I wanted to protect you."

Her eyes met his.

And for the first time in many years, Protector smiled.


End file.
